Analysis of Brahms Vier Ernste Gesänge by Geert Woltjer
Introduction
This website has been created during a HOVO-course (a course for people older than 50) of Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands. This course has been given in February and March 2004. The songs of the cycle are analyzed in order to improve the insight in the reasons why the songs work as they do. The analyses are made by an amateur musician, who likes to understand what he is doing. This web is the result of this analysis. It is not meant to be perfect; it's just the result of the HOVO-course. I hope the analysis may help others to get a more in depth view on the song than while only singing, playing or listening to the music.
The analysis uses capital letters for separate tones, and capital letters for major chords. Minor chords have no capital letters. To the full measures of the songs, we refer with a m. So, m. 2 means: the second full measure of the song.
The cycle of songs
An important question is why the series of songs is seen as a song cycle by Brahms. It is obvious that the texts from the bible have been carefully selected. The content has a more or less logical order. Man is not above the beast and we don't know what happens after life, so enjoy your work (song 1). But if you look around, there is a lot of evil on earth, so it may be better to be dead or not born at all (song 2). Death can be both bitter and a relief, depending on the condition of life (song 3). And the consequence of these thoughts is that it is not of much use to believe, even if this gives you the power to move mountains, if you don't have the main value in life: love/charity (song 4).
The second element of cohesion is the tonal structure. The first song is in d minor, the second song starts with a d, but is in g minor, i.e. a dominant relationship with the first, and ends in G major. The third song is in the minor parallel of G major, i.e. e minor, and ends in E major. The last chord in the right hand piano of the third song is a Gis, that is enharmonically the same as the ground tone of the As chord with which the fourth song starts. But this first chord is the IV of the tonic of the fourth song, Es major, that is harmonically far away from the E major of the third song. This may symbolize the change towards the totally different world of the fourth song. A comparable transformation is also used for the adagio of the fourth song, that is in B major, again far away from the Es major of the begin and end of the song.
Song 1
The text of the song is prose, not a poem. It is from the bible (Salomo, Cap. 3, Ecclesiastes, III). The basic idea is that man has no reason to feel better than beasts; man will die too, and are made of dust and will go back to dust. You don't know if the sole of man is going to heaven, so it is wiser to have pleasure in your work. Then the question is asked what will happen after him.
The problem of prose instead of poems is that the text has not rhythm of itself. Nevertheless, Brahms did look for parallels in the text and used them in his composition. For example, in m. 5 the word "Vieh" is used in the same musical phrase as the word "Vieh" in m. 20.
The song has three main themes. The first is in the andante's in 4/4 measures. The second is moving very fast in a 3/4 measure; it may symbolize the movement of the dust. The diminished chord has a central place in this. The third theme has broad chords, and is build around normal triads. It accompanies the text about the spirit of man that may go to heaven while the spirit of the beast may go downwards. After this the andante comes back, where the central point of the text is presented: you don't know what will happen, so rejoice yourself in your work. Then the second theme is taken up again and goes into the coda. The question is asked who will show him what will happen after him. The coda has a 9/4 measure, where the measures are divided in three slow notes, that are divided into three, while those are divided into three again.
A repeated quarter note is almost always present during the song. This may be the march of death, or just a bourdon. In the andante the A is repeated, in the allegro the D, in the coda both the A and D are present. Such a repeated tone is related to death in a lot of music.
The motive or theme in the first bar (D-E-F-E-D) has an important role in the andante parts of the song. It is sometimes split up, sometimes slower, sometimes extended. But it is basically the same, and sets to a large extent the atmosphere of the song. The first four measures this is the only theme; the voice just joins the movement of the piano. When "stirbt" is introduced, the voice gets its own line, while the death motive rises a little gets small variations by having a Bes on the first beat and later even longer variations. Be aware of the accent that is given on "dies" by using the appoggiatura's Gis and Cis and the high pitch on the second "dies", meaning that man dies in the same manner as the beast. With the second time "so stirbt er auch" the voice goes downwards, while the piano has broad, simple chords. At the end the harmony has changed from d minor in A major. The theme is taken up again, where the measure on "auch" is added as a starting up of the theme. Under "haben alle einerlei odem" the motive becomes a continuous stream, while at the end on "denn es ist alles eitel" again the broad chords are used.
Let us investigate this andante part a little bit more in detail. The first four measures are almost identical, where the main melody line of the first two measures is repeated in the voice, and the piano right hand gets a higher pitch parallel with the left hand and doubling the A's, implying that we have just three parallel lines except for the line with the main melody. When "Vieh" is mentioned, the appoggiatura Bes for the repeated a is introduced. For the voice a second theme is presented that integrates beautifully in the first theme in the piano. The character is completely different. The melody is broken up in small parts, separated by rests. uses a lot of appoggiaturas, and has enormous intervals. The Gis in m. 6 on "dies" relates to the G on "stirbt" in m. 7. While the rest in m. 6 is natural for the text, the rest in m. 7 increases tension and gives an accent on what follows, especially the word "auch" that is also on the first beat. In m. 7 the lowest melody line goes one level above the bass line, while the bass gets a downward movement. In m. 7 the continuous d-minor harmony becomes more complex. IV6 IV7 (I) V I III IV II - I (m. 7-10), where it is closed with IV-II-V, where the last two feel as if A becomes the tonic. Also in the melody of the voice tension is created with large intervals, a relatively high pitch in the top (the F on "dies") and the Cis with a movement to D on "stirbt". See also that between "auch" and "wie" ion m. 8 there is explicitly no break! The piano melody becomes a continuous movement of the eight notes towards the word "stirbt" in the tonic, although with the F in the bass. The bass has a downward line in m. 8, while the repeated A's rise temporary till Bes and back. The last part of the theme is a quiet downward movement, with again rests in between, suggesting to go back to the tonic, but ending on E, the 5 on the A chord (in contrast to m. 26, where the same line goes back to D). Is the ending here in A major something like an acceptance of the fact that man dies like the beast?
As the piano introduced the first theme of the song, it does also for the second theme. In m. 11 the right hand piano suggests to take up the repeated A, and it is to a large extent, but it is at the same time, if you include the continuance with the Cis in m. 12, the start of the voice melody in m. 13. The second motive in the bass and the right hand piano is a variation of the first motive of the song, where the bass and middle voice have a difference of a third and the tonality is major instead of minor. In m. 12 the harmony changes between A and C chords, where the change from Cis in C kan also be explained as the melodic d-minor. The top melody of the piano in m. 12 is more or less a repetition of the of the original theme, but is very pronounced by being the top melody for the first time, and it continuous with have a sixth distance with the parallel melody. The same motive is repeated in the bass during the second half of m. 12, while the right hand continuous in the deepest part with the same line till m. 13, and the top melody in the right hand takes op the repeated A, where the voice can easily join as the start of the main theme here. The voice goes upwards till a Bes, that is the lowered 5 of the e minor chord, and gives a beautiful color that gives a movement towards "Odem" in m. 15, with a full A chord below it. The piano moves in the other direction with a variation of the main motive. The melody line of the voice may symbolize a breath, by starting on an A and ending with it. The piano in m. 15 and 16 is the same as in m. 11 and 12, where the voice just copies the right hand piano melody except for the last note, that is consistent with the first version of the motive in the song. M. 17 is just a variation on m. 16, where the last chords develop the d minor of m. 18 (it seems to be an A chord, solving towards d).
When in m. 18 the text is more or less a variation of the text of the first sentence, the first melody on m. 3 and 4 is repeated. The second half of this first theme till the third beat of m. 23 is only different in the voice. The voice is a continuous line, so it misses the breaks. In m. 24 the Gis is added, while the melody ends on D instead of E in m. 26. The bass line in m. 25-25 is rising towards the A chord (on the place of the E chord in m. 10) in order to find its solution in d instead of A in m. 11.
The allegro shows the vanity by a 3/4 measure where on each beat a repeated quarter note gives tension and each beat is divided in three in the right hand with a melody going up and down, suggesting the movement of the dust later on. Recognize that the first three tones of the right hand movement are the start of the first theme of the andante, but much and much faster! The right hand melody starts every two measures a large seventh higher, where the downward movements is always a broken diminished chord. During the piano intro all the 12 tones of the octave have been used, perhaps symbolizing the all embracing importance of what will be said (and has been said?). All possible diminished chords have been presented when the voice joins in. The voice uses the middle parts of the melody of the right-hand of the piano, only with one third of the speed, where the piano has a dwindling downwards movement that goes up during the break of the voice. The voice repeats the same melody a tone higher. When the dust is mentioned, the melody goes further downwards with a diminished chord as the main harmony, till it ends on a Cis. The voice melody of m. 40-42 is the omkering of the melody before, but it integrates the seventh chord notes, so that after this part the song did have three downward movements including all three diminished chords that include all 12 tones of the octave. The right hand piano then integrates this movement as the first of each three notes in the postlude of this part of the song. The off-beat notes together form again a diminished chord, except for the last tow chords (after the end of the repetition of the song melody) that form three large thirds (Cis-F-A; also something without direction) and just the A chord that brings as back to the d minor, where the whole dust story started. The movement of the dust fades out into nothing.
Then we get in the second part of the allegro on "Wer weiss ob der Geist des Menschen aufwärts fahre". The piano has broad chords, while both the voice and piano rise to a higher pitch. The D-octave of the start of the voice is echoed by the piano chords, that then with the same octave jump echoes the tones of the voice. The voice is just a broken Bes chord, and has a downwards D-octave again on "Menschen". The piano gives chords d, Bes, g and d as accompaniment. From m. 50 till m. 54 the voice just focuses on the A-chord, but ends in a Gis. The piano prepares this Gis chord (as a dominant for Cis in m. 60) by already giving a B7 on the last beat of m. 53, then a fis on the third beat of m. 52 followed by a Cis on the first beat and a Fis (plus a Dis octave moving towards the E of the voice) on the third beat of m. 53, and then a Cis in m. 54, followed by a fis on the last beat (IV of Cis) and the a full Gis chord finally in m. 55.
There is a large contrasts between piano and forte within the melody. At the third repetition of the "aufwärts fahre" the voice goes downwards, while the piano rises further with a forte that ends in a sforzata where the "dust motive" reappears in the interlude. A variation on the second theme in the allegro appears when it is told that the spirit of the beast goes downwards. It is a half tone lower variation of the voice melody in m. 40-42, a variation different form that in m. 42-44. The left hand follows the right hand for the first part of the line and then has a countermovement. Recognize that this line has a little bit a parallel to the first motive of the song! In m. 58-59 this is a chromatic line from Fis to Gis. solving the tension generated by the seventh of the Gis chord a little bit, but not giving the solution towards Cis.
A general break of two beats increases the expectation, where the solution is finally given in m. 60, with a Cis in the voice and Cis chords in the piano. The voice starts the melody of m. 46 a tone higher, following the A major chord. But starting form m. 64 the melody on "unterwärts" is going downwards, in contrast to the melody on "aufwärts" in m. 52! The melody has resemblance with the first motive! While in the first appearance of the theme the harmony changed from A towards Cis, it is going back now, till it becomes a clear A (with an A in the voice, too!) in m. 72. The voice ends on the lowest tone during the whole song at the end of this line, where the piano interlude continues this line in the bass line even further, with a ritenuto till the andante, that starts again in simple d minor.
In the andante the main statement of the song is presented as a repetition of the start of the song developing into a variation on a high pitch and going back till the D where the voice started. M. 76-77 are a condensed variation of m. 3-5, m. 78-79 a variation of m. 13-17, and m. 80-81 as variation of m. 24-26. Recognize the change from D major to d minor in m. 80, symbolizing the difference between "rejoice in his work" and "this is his portion".
Although this andante would have been a nice final statement, Brahms uses an extra line "Denn wer will ihn dahin bringen, dass er sehe was nach ihm geschehen wird?" for his coda. This second allegro starts again with the dust motive in d minor, but it is in much more elaborated form. During the first two waves of dust, an extra wave of dust starts already when the first one is going downwards. Only the last one is more or less the same as in the first allegro; but be aware that in m. 87 an open D7 chord instead of a straight D chord is used. And in m. 88-89 the right hand piano goes much faster and later chromatically downwards in order to end in a tremolo in m. 90, where the harmony seems to be a diminished chord on A, that transforms to G7, g7, A, g to d, where it gradually comes to a rest. The repetition of the quarter tones is very pronounced, first following the chromatic line of the bass, then going on a repeated A in m. 93 and finally, starting with the third part of m. 92 on D. There seem to be chromatic lines, first in the high notes of the left hand piano (C-B-Bes-A-G; m. 90-91), then in the right hand starting in m. 92 and ending in m. 96 (D-Cis-C-B-Bes-A). The melody of the voice in m. 92 has some resemblance with the start of the song, and ends in a type of declamation with repeated A's.
This coda has a 9/4 measure, where the measures are divided in three slow notes, that are divided in three, while those are divided in three again. Is this symbolic? The voice is become more static, first centering around a D, later around A, where it ends. The piano right hand remembers a little bit of the dust motive, while the left hand repeated D in m. 96 follows the rhythm of the starting motive. During the last three measures the piano fades away, but at the end it makes a forte statement, that remembers of the octave jump at the start of the second allegro theme, including the piano after-beat. Recognize that the first chord is after the third main beat, i.e. on the eight beat of the measure.
Song 2
The second text is also from Salomo, chapter 4. Looking back the writer sees the oppressions done on earth. Neither the people that oppressed nor the people that were oppressed got comfort. Therefore, it is better not to live at all. In the bible, the text follows immediately after the text of song 1.
The second song is in g minor, and follows logically on the d minor of the first song. The first two notes are even d's, so after the first song you become only aware in the second measure that the song is not in d minor, but in g minor. And there is another relationship with the first song: the clear statement of the d chord at the end of song 1 is mirrored in the broken g chord at the start of song 2. The chords have a dominant-tonic relationship to each other. Finally, the basic theme in the bass has been introduced already in the first song in m. 46ff and transposed in m. 60ff.
The song has four main parts. The first (m. 1-14) mentions the perception of the oppressions. The second (m. 15-35) tells that both the people that oppress and those that were oppressed have no one to comfort them. The third part (m. 36-60) concludes from this that the dead are better off and those who have not been born even better than this. The last part (m. 61-75), in G major instead of g minor, is the explanation why those who don't exist yet are best off; they don't know about the evil yet.
The first part has already two themes. The basis of the first is the broken g chord (m. 1-4) followed by a second half (m. 5-6) that seems to be based on the D chord. At the introduction of the theme an echo effect is very pronounced. When the voice repeats the theme, the piano echo's the theme in full chords in the right hand, but in double speed, and split up in two parts as a consequence. If you look at voice for the second half of the sentence (m. 5-6), this seems to be based on a D chord, but the piano uses a, followed by D (i.e. II-V) instead. In m. 5 the four chords in the middle just follow the a chord (with the third an octave lower), where in m. 6 the piano has the same structure has in m. 3, starting again at D, with following the D chord instead of the g chord.
The second theme of the first part has in the voice some resemblance with m. 5-6. The second theme of the first part (m. 7-10) is build around G-Bes, suggesting g minor, with the Fis in the end suggesting the dominant. But again, the harmony of the piano is much more complicated. The bass line goes through Es in m. 7 towards a c7 chord in m. 8 (with the middle chord suggesting an F chord), going to a diminished chord in m. 9, that transforms into an A major chord as the dominant of the dominant, where the whole of m. 10 is the D chord, i.e. the dominant, making of the A in the voice an appoggiatura. Recognize that the motive on "leiden" in m. 8 is echoed in the piano, and comes back in m. 12 (voice and piano) and in the piano also in 13-14 as an afterthought. Then the second theme of the voice is repeated a third higher with a variation in the end. If the harmony would be transposed, too, this would be Bes-Es-C-F. But the harmony in the piano is exactly the same in m. 11 as in m. 7, so starting in g minor, but the harmonic development becomes faster in m. 12, creating the opportunity to find a solution in the tonic, g minor, in 12.
The second part of the song introduces a third theme, that is related to the first theme by starting with a broken g minor triad (harmonized as an Es chord for the first two beats), but goes towards a seventh in m. 6 that wolves to an Es as part of a c minor chord. In m. 7 the right hand piano repeats the theme in double speed, where the bass line in m. 15-18 as well as 19-22 has the mirrored theme in half speed. Even the middle voice of the piano (m. 15-18: Bes-G-F-As) resembles the theme. The text on the theme is "da waren Thränen" (m. 19-20). Especially the fast version of the theme suggests those tears, the word "Thränen" is repeated on this fast theme.
Interesting is the voice in m. 17-18 on "Siehe". The first "Siehe" is simply in the F chord, but the second "Siehe" is a diminished fifth, creating already tension and surprise, where the As is on the seventh of the Bes chord, creating also tension. This suggests already a change in perspective of what you see. The new harmony with a lot of movement (F7-Bes7-Es), that through a third relationship (Es-g) goes from g to C and finally F (the same as m. 17, but with the F only at the end of the measure). In the "Thränen" motive in m. 17-18, the E respectively A clash with the Es and F, respectively As and Bes of the main harmony, reinforcing the "Thränen"-feeling that you are perceiving.
Another interesting issue is the right hand piano in m. 18-19; each of the three notes in the figure are part of a broken chord (first one Es, second g, last one Es. Also m. 21-22 is interesting in its inverse movement of the voice in m. 21. The very small chromatic movements in a lot of directions give a complex feeling, where the D and F in the voice in m. 22 are part of the Bes triad. In m. 23 the open Es chord movement goes into a C7 chord and finally a combination of an A bass with a diminished chord in the rest of the voices on the first beat of m. 24. But it develops fast through A7, F a7 into a new diminished chord, now with a consistent bass, on the first beat of m. 25. When in m. 28 the other side of the oppression, i.e. the oppressor, is introduced, a diminished chord is used during the whole measure and even partly in m. 28, although it is also the start of a D7-g-A-D-D7-G development. The voice melody is going from high to low, in contrast to the feeling one would have by the word "mächtig". The development towards m. 31 gives a little bit the feeling of the "mächtig", but then develops in a variation of the "Thränen"-theme, comparable with m. 15 and 19, but with much more movement in the right-hand piano (a variation of the voice) and the left hand broken chords that with its staccato give a contrast with the downwards movements of the left hand. In m. 33-34 the fast Thränen motive is repeated twice, as was in m. 17-18 for the piano, while the piano resembles m. 21-22. Finally, the whole story ends in a straight D-chord, although with an Es-G appoggiatura in m. 35.
A general break on m. 36 increases the uncertainty of what will be the next step. Part 3 starts with a restatement of the first theme in the tonic, but with the voice and piano parallel. Its simplicity is an enormous contrast with the complexity before. This is consistent with the content; if you are dead, the world is much simpler than if you are alive. Part 3 consists of three variations on the first theme of the piece, followed by a simple cadence that has basically the same rhythm as the first theme. The first variation is in g minor with a cadence VII-IV-V (f-C-D) with a resolution in the g minor of the first theme. The second variation starts in g minor, but transforms through C to A by third steps downwards, and the cadence is a cadence in A (f-d-A), i.e. a transformation from the world of the death to the world of those that are alive. The third variation uses a diminished chord build on A. This is on the words "Und der noch nicht ist", and suggests the lack of certainty in such a situation. After the statement of the first theme, there is a long pause (m. 55) and after that the piano starts (instead of the voice, as was in the case in the first two variations). The piano starts on an Ais, a tone that was not in the diminished chord before, and that is inconsistent with the harmony before that; the Ais is part of the B chord, and that is the end of the last cadence ((I)-IV-II-V-I). Recognize that the first cadence went to the tonic, g minor, the second to the dominant of the dominant of g minor, A major, and the last to the dominant of the dominant of A major, B major. The world of the dead people, the world of the people alive, and the world of those who are not born.
The fourth part of the song uses another tonality: G major instead of g minor. But in first instance, the harmony starts with a C7 chord (or perhaps first an e minor chord in m. 61, that would be logical resolution of the B chord), that could be a development towards F, but in practice goes to a D chord that develops into a b minor chord and finally into a G major chord in m. 65. After that the harmony is rather straightforward (I-VII-I-II-V-IV-I).
The voice in the fourth part starts with a theme derived from the second half of the first theme (m. 5-6) and the start of the second theme (m. 7), and then continues with a theme derived from the second theme, m. 8-10. The voice ends on the third of the G chord, instead of the tonic, after weighting a moment, where the line in m. 66-67 would suggest otherwise. This makes the end a little bit open.
The piano uses during the first part a variation on the first theme, but instead of broken chords, as arpeggios. The echo effect is the same as at the start of the song. And the chord is a seventh chord, with a sharp seventh. Combined with the sharp seventh of the voice in m. 62, it represents the word "Bösen" beautifully. Also in m. 64 a seventh chord with a seven jump is used, but the seventh is not sharp. Then, in m. 65-66 the echo effect continues as an echo on the voice, where the bass line is a countermovement for the voice line.
The last part of the song, maybe even starting in m. 67, uses the motive of "Sonne" in a lot of variations: countermovement, and faster, with perhaps an echo effect of the left hand in the right hand in m. 67-68. The right hand line in the coda moves downwards an octave (and if you include the last G chord even more than an octave), partly chromatically, with repetitions of the "Sonne" motive. During this process, a C7 chord is suggested in m. 70, and two diminished chords are at the end of measures 72 and 73, remembering a little bit the indeterminacy of the situation of the people unborn. You may see a relation between the last three measures and the first song, m. 72-75, with the same rhythm, and after a movement before with three tones downwards.
Let us finally have a look at the relationship between text and music. Part of this is rather speculative. It is obvious that the text is fitted well on the music, but doesn't come from declamation. In contrast to a lot of songs by Schubert or Schumann, the musical structure seems to be more important than the declamation. But the structure of the music is determined fundamentally by the content of the text. The downward movement at the start of the song symbolizes the bad things and death. The echo effect the remembrance of them. The piano movement in the chords may symbolize the turning, looking back, while the complex harmony in m. 7-8 stresses the oppressions. The motive of the downward half, as well as the right hand piano melody in m. 9 (including the suggestion of a diminished chord in this line) suggests the tears. A variation of this motive becomes the main motive of the tears in m. 15 ff, where the tears flow in all speeds and directions, with again complex harmonies. The diminished chord in m. 25 suggests the directionless feeling if you have no comforter. And the whole structure ends in a dominant to the tonic, i.e. a resolution, or an answer, in m. 37, where voice and piano a synchronic. The A major harmony starting in m. 47 suggests another world of the dead people, where the indeterminacy of those who don't live yet, is suggested by the diminished chord. The long break in m. 55 and the out of harmony open Ais octave in m. 56 increase tension, where the new harmony of e minor that is generated and then transformed in to B major, suggests a completely different world again, that is finally transformed into G major, but not before first symbolizing the evil by the sharp C7 chord in m. 61-62 and the two seventh jumps in the voice melody of m. 62 and 64. The remembrance of the seventh chords in m. 71 and 72 in a traditional I-II-V-I-IV-I cadence give the feeling of acceptance.
Song 3
The text is from Jesus Sirech, capital 41. How bitter is death for those that are happy and prosperous. How welcome is death for those that suffer.
The harmony of the second song is e minor, the parallel of G major, the harmony where song 2 ends. The starting motive resembles the starting motive of the second song, with its downwards broken chord, the same sharp C7 chord as in m. 62 of song 2, and just as it suggested in song 2 "Bösen", it represents here the bitterness of the death.
The song is broken in two main parts, broken into five parts. The first part (m. 1-5) is about the bitterness of death. The second part (m. 6-12) is about the happiness of happy people, where the statement about the bitterness of death for those people is repeated in m. 12-17. The second half of the song is in E major. M. 18-30 tell that death is good for those who have nothing. The last part (m. 31-40) restate how welcome death may be for those who have nothing but pain.
The third is an important interval in the song. The voice starts with this interval and with a little bit of good will, you may say that the first five measures of the voice are completely build around this interval: B-G, E-C, Cis-E, D-B, A-C, B-D, A-C. The voice starts before the piano in contrast with the other songs that have a piano prelude, and the first four notes are together a C7 chord. The second interval is anticipated by the piano bass, and in m. 2 the piano bass continues with the downward third intervals. During the process the harmony moves very fast from e minor through C, a to Fis, the dominant of the dominant of e minor. The downward movements in combination with the fast harmonic development, the heavy chords and the slow metric together may suggest death.
In m. 2 the voice has an extended octave (C-Cis) as interval, that generates a lot of tension. In m. 3 the Fis7 chord transforms through the neighboring G chord to an e chord. The motive of the voice may be a motive of tears, with its downwards movement, movement from major to minor and the eight notes at the end. Also the diminished fifth (C-Fis) around which the second "bitter bist du" is build, creates a bitter tension. The voice starts here a sequence of this motive, firsts starting on E, then on C and finally only the last part going to the B chord, i.e. the V of e. On the second "bitter" a diminished seventh chord is used, but m. 4-5 further just have a I-IV-V-I cadence.
The real metre of the voice is different from the notated metre. It is a 2/2 in m. 3-4 and a 2/4 in m. 5, while starting with m. 6 it is more a 6/4, with its much faster movement when the song is about the happy people.
The second theme (starting in m. 6) has some resemblance with the first theme in that it starts with a sixth (the complement of the third), and you may see the step form C to A in m. 6 as the next third. Also m. 6-8 may be seen as a sequence, concluded with a melody build on thirds downwards in m. 10 (Fis-D-B-G-E Cis) ending with an inverse movement of the motive on "bitter" (m. 3), where the long note is reciting and finally jumps into a B , the same note as the start of the song. The end of the downwards movement on "Dingen" in m. 11 gives an uncomfortable feeling, certainly in combination with being an appoggiatura for the off-beat D. Both voice and piano anticipate this appoggiatura by jumping from a g harmony into a Cis harmony at the end of m. 10, that ends in a Fis chord on the first beat of m. 11.
The second theme starts with a fugato: the theme presented by the piano in starting in m. 53 with a B that continues with the G in the right hand piano, is the same as the voice melody starting on the first beat of m. 6 till the word "Mensch". After the presentation of the theme by the piano the piano makes a small variation of "Gedenket ein" in the second half of m. 7. The harmony below m. 6-7-8 is I-VI-II7-I-IV7-VII-III-I (e-C-fis7-e-a7-D7-G-e), where the whole sequence C-G consists of steps in the circle of fifths, jumping over B.
When the text starts with summing all the gut things the happy person has, repeating each time "und", as a child would do, the piano has a warm, beautiful bass melody that by the way resembles the start of the song in the inverse interval of B-G (with the voice doing it correctly, by the way!) and continuing with E-(D)-C. The right hand piano gives an echo effect, but seems further only to create the harmony. m. 8-10 are more or less a sequence, where in m. 10 the jumps in the bass are becoming enormously, consistent with the different pattern in the voice in m. 10. The bass line is related very much to the voice melody. by starting with the inverse interval of the voice (D-Fis, but again the right hand does it the same has the voice) and then going B-G-E-Cis. The harmonic line of m. 10-12 is D-g-(Cis7-Fis-)D-b-(Gis7-Fis)e-B7, in order to go back to the a second exposal of the first theme, as a refrain. It is by the way nice to see how the repeated Fis in the bass (and the voice in the second half of m. 11) is consistent with all the four different harmonies in m. 11.
The second half of the song is in E major instead of e minor (compare song 2 that starts with g minor and has its second half in G major). The basic metre is a four-beat one, i.e. 4/2. The atmosphere is very mild. The upward movement of the right hand melody in combination with the open chords create an atmosphere of acceptance. The bass line use the sixth as its main interval, but implicitly follows again a third movement: E-Cis-A-Fis-Dis-B, where the bass is always the ground tone of the harmony. The right hand piano is build around one motive: two rising quarter note, followed by a half note, that in m. 19 ends in a bourdon-like repeated A with in the middle voice (Fis-E-Dis-Cis) a sort of echo of the gradual downwards movement of the bass line (Dis-Cis-B), that finds a very nice resolution with the start of the voice.
The voice line has some resemblance with the first theme, but is different. The first two notes are the same, but the jump is a sixth upwards instead of a third downwards, giving peace and quietness (as was the case for the piano bass in m. 18). Then it takes immediately a variation of the melody on the second "bitter bist du" (m. 4-5/16-17), where it is build around a straight fifth (Cis-Fis_ instead of a diminished fifth (C-Fis) in m. 4-5/16-17. The melody is also reduced to broad halves, instead of the mourning motive in m. 4-5/16-17. Only in the third sequence of this motive, the bitter-motive is taken up, but in half speed and without the last mourning motive and hav ing the long tone on an A in stead of the Cis, making the Cis that follows much better to digest.
The piano has a sequence of three measures, with only a small variation. Also the right hand middle voice has a sequence, already starting in m. 19 (Fis-E-Dis-Cis-(B), followed by Gis-Fis-E-Dis-Cis, and then going downwards. The bourdon-like sixth in the right hand, that started in m. 19, continues till m. 21 in a gradual downwards movement, with the last note of each measure being shorter and transforming into a lower pitch. When the "Dürftigen" are introduced in m. 22, the right hand movement the line starts on a Dis at the end of m. 22 (instead of the repeated E of the bourdon) and becomes almost a chromatic downwards line till Gis in m. 24.
The harmony in the bass below m. 20-22 is: E-A-|dis7-(A)-gis7-(E)-|cis-(E7)-fis-(A), where the voice and right hand piano suggest E-|Fis-|E. This implies that the bass only casually takes the main harmony of the voice and right hand piano, and has itself as its main line dominants of dominants from dis7 in m. 21 to B in the second half of m. 23. Then a new sequence is created from Gis7 in m. 24, skipping the fis, and continuing till A in m. 25. (where the D instead of Dis on the last beat of m. 24 suggests that it will really become A major instead of E. In m. 25 start three measures build around the A chord, where perhaps the portamento of the right hand piano in m. 25 on "schwach", suggests the weakness in the text, and the diminished chord on the last beat of m. 25 may suggest the same.
In m. 27 the motive Cis-Cis-Dis-Dis-E, an extension of the motive in m. 25, on a diminuendo is presented by the piano, and repeated immediately by the voice in a counter-movement. In m. 28 this is repeated with a variation, where in m. 29 the piano does the motive without the repetitions of the same tones in a countermovement, where the voice starts the movement at an off-beat moment culminating in a long and complex line on "erwarten hat". The bass of the piano in m. 30 may be seen as a new variation of the motive, in thirds instead of seconds, but introduces also the thirds of the main motive again.
In m. 31 the theme of m. 20 (and the start of the song) is taken up again, but with variations. The 3/2 measure is back as is the E major tonic. The voice first sixth is followed by a second one, and then a downward sixth, starting from a high Fis. The same last part of the theme is repeated also a third lower, generating the ground tone of the E chord as the last note of the voice. It is the same motive as on "Dürftigen" in m. 23/24. The start is with an E on m. 36, generating a seventh downwards towards an Fis, that is defined as the dominant of the dominant by the piano in the second half of m. 37, and transforms from Fis7 through B7 to E.
The bass line in m. 35-36 resembles the voice in m. 34-35, where the right hand piano has an upward moving chain of chords (m. 35-38) transform the E major chord through cis, A into the Fis7 chord that is the starting point to find peace in the E major chord at the end of the song. The last two measures are build around a plain E chord, starting with a very low bass, just following the natural tones; the frequencies of all the bass tones of measure 39 compared with the base E are: 1-2-3-4-5-6, and the last chord you hear in the left hand piano (the pedal is prescribed) is the same chord.
Let us speculate also in this song a little bit about the relationship between text and music. As in the second song, also in this song the movement downwards suggests death. But the fast transformation of the harmony by the third steps reinforce this feeling, as do the seventh in the voice in m. 3, the mourning motive in the voice, the fast transformation from Fis through G to e, with the very open G chord in the piano and finally the C-Fis interval in the voice on "bitter" (m.4-5). The fugue structure of the music starting in m. 6 suggests the remembrance of the person, where the transformation of the death motive into a very cheerful bass melody integrates the bitterness of the death with the happiness of the person involved. The piano in measure 12 suggests the continuance of the remembrance, but presents at the same time the dominant for the restatement of the first theme.
The open sixth intervals derived from the third intervals of the first theme, create a variation of the theme that make it more optimistic.
Song 4
The text is from S. Pauli to the Corinther, chapter 13. You may have everything, but if you don't have love, it's worthless. Without love we see in a mirror dark words, but with love we see directly. With love I will see it as he sees me. But now remains from faith, hope and love, love the most important. Love means in this context something like charity. If you have a look at the rest of the Corinther, it will become obvious that Brahms has selected carefully his metaphysical passage, although it is also a very famous one.
This song is written in 1895, a year before the other three songs. It is also different in character, both with respect text, with its focus on love instead of death, and with respect to music. But nevertheless it is seen by Brahms explicitly as the last part of a cycle, and has also with respect to its text some logic compared with the other songs. If you summarize the cycle, then the first song states that you have to be happy in you work, because you don't know what will happen after you life. The second song is very negative about current society, and concludes that it is better not to be born at all. The third contrasts the bitterness of death in the midst of a good life with the relief death may give for people with nothing to hope. And then, finally, the last song suggests that love is the most important thing in life.
The song starts in Es major, but the first chord is an As chord (IV), the As being the same tone as the highest tone in the chord, Gis, at the end of song 3. On the other hand, the transformation from E major to Es major is a transformation in another world by its halftone move.
The structure of the song is A (m. 1-47), consisting of three variations of the same theme in 4/4 measure, B (m. 48-75) consisting of two variations of another theme in 3/4 measure, and a Coda, consisting of a part build on the first theme (m. 76-82), and a part build on the second theme (m. 83-99).
The piano prelude already introduces two important motives in the song: The Es-F-G in the right hand and in the top voice of the left hand, and the octave jumps, as presented in the left hand. May be also the rhythm of 1/8-3/8 is a motive used during other parts of the song.
When the voice joins, the piano repeats the same two motives in a faster speed till m. 6, where in m. 6 the left hand does the motive of the right hand in countermotion. The voice starts with the octave jump, followed by the rising motive in double speed, and introduces another characteristic motive: along note, followed by a short one, as with the octave jump and also on "Menschen", "Engels" and "rede". After the octave jump of the voice there is a long line till the "Engelszungen" and back till the first Bes. This enormous line in combination with the major tonality, starting and ending the melody on the V (Bes), and the atmosphere of the main motives.
The second part of the sentence is a contrasts. If you don't have love (charity), then all those positive things are without value. The voice starts this motive an octave lower than it ended and without piano accompaniment, and then introduces a very very mild motive as a variation on the inverse of the first motive (D, followed with the inverse of the first motive in minor: F-Es-D). This is a very mild motive, symbolizing love, and continues and develops in the piano during the word "Liebe". The second half goes back to the real meaning of the first sentence; it's only a tinkling cymbal. The voice starts this part with a downward seventh jump, the counterpart of the nice octave jumps and the triad before. The downward movement of the voice in m. 10 is a diminished chord. The continuous repetitions of Bes octave jumps in the bass and the downward movement of chords in the right hand piano represent the uncomfortable feeling of doing something beautiful without love, but in general the optimistic atmosphere remains. Also in the second half of the sentence the voice goes form V to V, where the piano brings it back to the tonic Es at the start of m. 13, decreasing the speed of the "klingende Schelle".
And this is immediately the start of the start of the variation on the theme, that is presented in the tonic. The piano prelude is compressed in one measure instead of two, and in m. 14 the rhythm of the piano is half speed compared with the rhythm of the first two bass tones in fm. 2. The voice takes the first half of m. 3 much faster and the second half slower in m. 14, where m. 15 is a variation on the same measure. Then the voice takes material of m. 4 to vary it in m. 16, and integrates material of m. 14and 16 in m. 17. Then in m. 18 a variation on m. 5. The harmony in m. 15-18 follows the harmony in m. 3- 7, except for the replacement of Es7 by Bes7 on "Geheimnisse". The melody in the piano goes downwards instead of upwards in m. 5. In m. 19-20 the statement about "Glauben" includes already part of the second sentence motive, but in bes minor. The line goes in all directions, suggesting perhaps that faith without love is without direction. It motive is presented in full octaves, and end in octave jumps, and a downwards scale in bes minor, where the enormous jumps in the piano and voice may represent the "Bergen versetze" by "glauben". The piano echoes the "berge versetze" to end the first half of the sentence, where the last chord is a Bes chord without third. The leaving out of the third leaves it open if it is a major or minor chord. Perhaps this also has a symbolic meaning?
The second half of the sentence repeats more or less as a refrain the first exposure, except for having a Des instead of D in the voice in m. 24. Recognize the repetition of "wäre" in this sentence. This is required to get the low number of words on the same musical line, but also pays attention to one specific word.
The postlude of the second variation of the theme jumps immediately (skipping an introduction) in the third variation of the theme. The third variation has a much more complicated harmony then first two variations. The sequence in m. 31-2 intensifies the expression, as does the repetition in m. 33 of the downward movement, that is repeated in a variation in m. 35 again. In this same measure the fast unrest giving octave jumps introduced in m. 1 appear , with accents on the first note, symbolizing the "brennen". The harmony of this passage starting from the end of m. 33 is in f minor.
The second half of the third variation is much longer than the ones before, and a measure rest of the voice is before its start (as was also the case in the second variation). The word "Liebe" is extended over two measures, using the 3/8-1/8 motive, and having a very fast harmonic development f-bes-Es-As below it. The last part of the sentence is repeated after an piano interlude using material as presented in m. 33, 21 and 10-11 on two diminished chords. After a short pause in m. 43 the voice repeats part of the sentence, again with an accent on "wäre". The musical material includes both motives of the first half of the theme and the second half of the theme. For example, the Bes-As-G line in the bass of m. 43-4, and the 3/8-1/8 rhythm of the voice are all of the first part of the theme.
The last variation of the first theme is on its minor tonic in m. 46, but transforms in m. 47 towards a Ges7 chord, that is enharmonically the same as Fis, the V of B that is the start of the Adagio. The B can be seen as a heightened V of Es dur and is in this way related with the tonality before, but creates at the same time a completely different atmosphere, as is consistent with the content of this second part of the song. The text tells philosophically that we can only look into a dark mirror, where you learn only part of the truth.
The 3/4 measure makes the music more dreaming than the 4/4 before, as does the change in harmony. The piano follows the voice, so is much less independent than in the first part. The last note of the piano triplets are echoes of the voice, perhaps symbolizing the mirror effect in the text. The first notes of the triples are a simple but beautiful countermelody. The bass repeats the short-long motive in a slow fashion. The voice melody in m. 49-51 is a sequence, using the 3/8-1/8 rhythmic motive (even the whole rhythm of m. 3 excluding a normal length of the first beat) of the first theme. The piano intermezzo in m. 53 is an echo in the top notes of the voice in m. 52.
The second part of the adagio theme start with a seventh jump, related with the octave jump in the first theme. The voice of m. 57 is the same as 48, only a tone lower. And the triplet movements stop on each third beat, increasing the expressiveness of the music. The end of the piano triplet line flows into the third voice tone in m. 56-58, perhaps expressing the "von Angesicht zu Angesichte". So, in the first phrase the piano mirrors, while in the second phrase the piano anticipates the voice.
M. 60-72 are a variation on the theme presented in m. 48-60. The piano interlude in m. 60-61 repeats the starting motive and restart the continuous third triplets. Its rise towards an E suggests the happiness feelings of the text before. The E chord on the first beat of m. 61 is a very special one that interrupts the progress from B-Fis7-B (I-V7-I) with a IV chord. The melody line is a variation on m. 48-49, where the voice on m. 62-64 (and the echo in the piano in m. 65) is again a sequence based on these two measures, almost becoming a sequence of only variations on m. 48.
The second part of the theme goes to the mystical part of being known completely, and starts the same as in m. 54. But starting with the last beat of m. 68 the development changes. On this last beat the triplets starts to continue again, the harmony goes to a diminished chord in m. 69and the voice rises instead of remaining on the same level (but with the same motive as in m. 57). On "Ich" in m. 70 the voice has the only grace notes in the whole "Vier ernste Gesänge". The B is part of a diminished chord in the right hand piano, where the bass is a progress from a (diminished) cis chord towards Fis through Fis7 reaching the tonic B in m. 72. Below "Ich" the piano triplets become shorter with longer end tones, perhaps suggesting the reaching of knowledge even more than in the measures before.
Starting with m. 72 the motive of m. 48 is used to transform from the Adagio B major part towards the Es harmony of the first part of the song. Recognize that even in m. 74 and 75 the motive is repeated in the middle voice of the right hand piano, where the reprisal of the first theme is anticipated through the soprano and the octave jumps in the bass.
The part starting with m. 76 may be seen as a sort of coda, with m. 76 using material of the first part of the song, and the second part (starting with m. 83) focusing on the adagio part of the song. The first part starts with rather direct variation of m. 3 and 4, but then develops into a line that has only slight resemblance with m. 5 and 6. The chromatic chain in the middle voices (from Es in m. 78 to Bes in m. 81) increases tension, as do the rising fifths in the voice in m. 78-79 on "Glaube" and "Hoffnung" (the last on "Liebe" is delayed till m. 89). The word "Liebe" is accentuated by the high pitch of the voice (for a bass!), the long duration of the music on "Liebe" compared with the other words and the fast harmonic development by dominant relationships from g in the second half of m. 79 through C and F7 into Bes7 in m. 81. If you are looking back at the whole cycle, it seems obvious that Brahms didn't believe much in the relevance of faith and hope about life after death, so it seems obvious to me that the text has much more importance for Brahms than it has in the context of the Bible.
The ritenuto in m. 82 is the transformation to the second part of the coda. It is just a Bes7 chord with its solution into Es in m. 83, but the Fis as the last tone of the voice and the left hand piano gives extra pressure towards the start of the new theme.
In the Sostenuto the adagio theme is taken back, but integrated in the Es dur tonality. The triplets in the piano are doubled compared with the adagio, and the top line just follows the voice line, but a sixth plus octave higher, and at the end a third higher. In m. 85-86 the right hand piano has triplets where the voice sings two notes, giving an interesting rhythmic pattern.
Starting with m. 88 the voice takes elements m. 78 and further (related to
the first theme), where the left hand takes the triplets ending at the last
beat, taken from the second theme. In m. 91 the piano speeds up in an implicitly
2/4 measure, where the voice remains in the 3/4 measure. The word "grösseste"
has more or less the same atmosphere and accentuation as "Liebe" in m. 80, where
the voice line in m. 93-94 remembers vaguely both to m. 78 and further and the
start of the song. In the piano postlude the right hand piano has in m. 95-96 a
2/4 beat against the left hand 3/4 beat. The countermovement of left hand and
right hand in the Es chords, the arpeggio's in the two-beat in the right hand
and the ending on three repeated
Es chords, where the last chord is build of the natural tones on the bass line,
as was the first chord in the song, gives a feeling of reconciliation.
References
Cornelia Preissinger (1994), Die vier ernsten Gesänge op. 121 : vokale und instrumentale Gestaltungsprinzipien im Werk von Johannes Brahms , Frankfurt am Main [etc.] : Lang, Europäische Hochschulschriften. Reihe 36, Musikwissenschaft, ISSN 0721-3611 ; Bd. 115.
Eric Sams (2000), The songs of Johannes Brahms, New Haven [etc.]
: Yale University Press
Includes about 5 pages about "Vier ernste Gesänge".
Peter Jost (1992, Hrsg.), Brahms als Liedkomponist: Studien zum Verhältnis von Text und Vertonung, Stuttgart : Steiner
Lucien Stark (1995), A guide to the solo songs of Johannes Brahms, Bloomington [etc.] : Indiana University Press.
Ira Lincoln Braus (1988), Textual rhetoric and harmonic anomaly in selected Lieder of Johannes Brahms , Dissertation Cambridge, Harvard University. (But nothing about the "Vier ernste Gesänge" is mentioned.
Internet link
J. Brahms, Vier ernste Gesänge (text and English and French translation)